Hybrid Solar Panel

Source: newatlas.com

The biggest drawback with solar power is that it needs the sun to generate energy. Chinese engineers are trying to solve this by developing a panel which generates energy from the falling rain as well as from sun light.

This new concept exploits the triboelectric effect. This effects produces energy from two material rubbing against each other. We commonly know this as static electricity. The likely reason this effect has not been exploited before is because it doesn't generate a large amount of energy. Using it in conjunction with solar panels is a good fit as long as the added cost is not too great. As more people begin experimenting the efficiency will increase as well as lowing the costs to incorporate the new technology into new panels.

The method to capture the energy from the movement of the rain drops is by adding two polymer layers and creating a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) on the top of the solar panel. The upper layer is a polymer called polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and the lower layer is a polymer made of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiphene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). The polymer layers are textured to imprint grooves on their surface, this will improve the performance of the TENG.

Source: newatlas.com

When the rain falls on the upper layer, it pushes it against the lower layer. The lower layer is an electrode and allows the energy generated by the TENG to be transferred to the solar cell. When it is not raining and the sun is out, the polymer layers are transparent and the solar panel can generate energy from the sun light.

As mentioned previously in this post, the TENG does not yet produce very much energy. The engineers measured a peak short circuit current of about 33 nA (nano Amps) and a peak open circuit voltage of about 2.14 V. But as with most technologies as more research is done, the efficiency is likely to increase.